Congressional candidates start delayed filing

By KEVIN P. CRAVER - kcraver@shawmedia.com

A McHenry candidate who sought to run as a Democrat in the 14th Congressional District against U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh is bowing out.

Former McHenry Alderman Frank McClatchey announced Friday, the first day to file for Illinois congressional races, that he would not run. Walsh, R-McHenry, announced earlier this month that he would run for re-election to the relocated 8th District he now represents, shifting course from an incumbent-on-incumbent 14th District primary against Rep. Randy Hultgren, R-Winfield.

Another Democratic candidate, Dennis Anderson of Gurnee, filed Friday along with Hultgren to run in the 14th District.

“I got in the race to run and win against Joe Walsh, the congressman in the district now, and I know that constituents could have done much better by electing me,” McClatchey said in a statement.

McClatchey said “the road to victory has been closed” with Walsh out of the 14th District race and no Walsh vs. Hultgren primary.

Congressional candidates have from today through 5 p.m. Tuesday to file petitions – a panel of federal judges pushed the filing period back three weeks to accommodate an unsuccessful Republican challenge to the Democratic-drawn map.

Under post-census redistricting, all of McHenry County except Algonquin Township will be in the 14th District, which will cover parts of all the collar
counties, including much of Kendall County and a sliver of DeKalb County. Algonquin Township will be in the 6th District now represented by Peter Roskam, R-Wheaton. The 6th District in the new map includes parts of Lake, Cook, Kane and DuPage counties.

The 8th District moves south under the remap to northwest Cook, northern DuPage and far northeastern Kane counties.

Walsh filed Friday for the 8th District, as did Republican primary challengers Richard Evans of Wheaton and Robert Canfield of Palatine. Republican 8th District candidate Darlene Ruscitti, the DuPage County regional superintendent of schools, dropped out of the race earlier this week.

Also filing to run for the 8th District is Democratic candidate and former Illinois Deputy Treasurer Raja Krishnamoorthi, who will run against Iraq war pilot and former Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs director Tammy Duckworth for the party’s nomination.

Roskam filed for the 6th District on Friday. A four-way Democratic primary for the district is shaping up with candidates Leslie Coolidge of Barrington Hills, Geoffrey Petzel of Lake Zurich, Tim Ritter of Cary and Maureen Yates of Barrington.

The 16th District, represented by longtime Rep. Don Manzullo, R-Egan, will no longer include McHenry County under the new map. Manzullo will face the incumbent-vs.-incumbent scenario that Hultgren escaped. Manzullo and freshman Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Manteno, filed to run for the 16th District, which will cover 14 counties in a loop around the Chicago area from Boone and Winnebago counties to the Indiana border.